Arsenal-Man Utd Premier League Game Won’t Be Shown Live On 6 FOX Stations

Several of the top TV markets in the United States won’t be showing the first Premier League match live on their local FOX affiliate due to a conflict with other programming scheduled for Sunday morning.

UPDATE: The number of FOX stations not showing the Arsenal-Manchester United game live is now reported to be up to 23 out of 185 FOX stations nationwide. The other cities (not mentioned below) who didn’t show the game live were Billings, Biloxi, Binghamton, Greenville, Huntsville, Macon, Minod, Omaha, Roanoke, Savannah, Springfield (MO), Terre Haute, Wheeling and Youngstown.

Cities such as Cleveland, Indianapolis, Raleigh/Durham, Atlanta and Milwaukee won’t be showing the game live, but will be playing it on delay, while Miami (WSVN) isn’t showing it until midnight ET (or later, if the NFC Championship game runs long). Atlanta (WAGA) and Milwaukee (WITI) will show the broadcast beginning at 12:30pm local time, while the other cities (Cleveland, WJW; Raleigh/Durham, WRAZ; Indianapolis, WXIN) will begin the broadcast at Noon local time. Programming is subject to change.

All six cities mentioned above are in the top 56 markets that make up the overnight TV ratings.

“Our hope is that our affiliates always take network programming in-pattern, but ultimately, the decision is theirs,” said a FOX Sports spokesperson. “Due to the atypical start time for the Arsenal-Manchester United match, and that this is the first year we’re attempting live EPL broadcasts, some affiliates are unable to accommodate the live broadcast due to prior programming commitments. Fortunately, the game will be live in almost 90% of the country. We’d be happier if it was 100%, but it’s a pretty good first step.”

In San Francisco, FOX station KTVU isn’t airing the game, but it’s sister station KICU will show it live. The TV schedule for FOX station in Birmingham, Alabama (WBRC) wasn’t available at press time.

The spokesperson for FOX Sports added, “We’ll be monitoring social media outlets and communicating with fans as best we can to let them know what’s happening in their area, and in the meantime it would be best to check local listings to be sure of the start time on Sunday.”

What programming is causing the issue? On WSVN in Miami and Raleigh/Durham (WRAZ), it’s church programming. Atlanta (WAGA), Milwaukee (WITI), Cleveland (WJW) are showing infomercials, while Indianapolis (WXIN) is showing a rerun of a local programming show as well as a rerun of a local sports show featuring high school and college athletes.

If you live in these markets and you’re incensed by the decision of your local FOX station, I’d encourage you to contact the station by phone, e-mail, Twitter and Facebook to share your outrage.

About Christopher Harris

Founder and publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris is the managing editor of the site. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who has lived in Florida since 1984, has supported Swansea City since 1979. He's also an expert on soccer in South Florida, and got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.
Harris launched EPL Talk in 2005, which was rebranded as World Soccer Talk in 2013.
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43 Responses to Arsenal-Man Utd Premier League Game Won’t Be Shown Live On 6 FOX Stations

I know everyone always says that the lack of advertising in soccer matches would prevent it catching on in the US, but who would have thought that a match between two of the most famous clubs in the world would get knocked of tv by ads for slapchop?

From Miami and I’m extremely disappointed. I noticed it wasn’t in the guide last night and was hoping it would show up but now I know why. This happened last time they tried this as well and they didn’t even show it at midnight either bumping it for local news.

I will. I just don’t appreciate the lame excuse. You think if the NFL scheduled the game at 10 AM they wouldn’t show it live? Yeah right. Just be frank and direct, they don’t believe enough people will watch and will lose ad revenue with only one commercial break at half time.

In enjoy your ads as I will be watching it live , this is how the rest of the world sees American corporations and tv company’s , they don’t care about the people that actually line there pockets and are more interested in making even more money I would actually say that this is one of the few things the uk does better than America

Well as the you tube video goes the odds of it not being interrupted in the Twin Cities are low. The local Fox affiliate will do the same as they did last time when the Euro Final was on. The weather forecast is for a little snow and sleet but this will mean they will usurp the show with weather forecasts ……

But that defeats the whole point of why FOX is showing the game on the free-to-air network. They want to get as many people as possible watching the game on FOX. If it’s shown on FOX Soccer too, it’ll reduce the viewing audience on FOX.

would it be possible for them to simulcast it only in the areas of the country where the fox affiliates aren’t broadcasting it live? For example, when espn has a monday night football game on that involves the packers (I am a wisconsinite), the monday night programming for abc gets rescheduled for the game and the game is shown on the local ABC station, and ESPN is blacked out until the game concludes. I realize it would be tricky, but it would prevent people getting such a terrible deal.

And I imagine that any viewership is better than the viewers they will lose to streaming it live. I already know one pub in the Milwaukee area will be streaming it illegally because this is the position Fox 6 has put them in.

Until TV stations are made aware of the fact that there are so many people interested in soccer they will continue to preempt these games. The only way they are going to know is if people contact them and voice their opinion. For those of you affected by this make sure you ask other family members, neighbors and friends to contact the TV station.

hmm Raleigh/Durham is not showing the game.. we have a local soccer team (carolinarailhawks), one would think soccer interest is pretty decent in this area.. well then it is church and commercials then idiots..

Gutted – the hundreds of channels I have on Directv and I can’t find one showing this fixture live in Houston. This will be the first Arsenal match of the year in the EPL and CL that I haven’t been able to get live this season (or last season as I recall). Guess it’s some dodgy streaming Internet feed.

KPTM in Omaha Fox affiliate is delaying it till noon central time as well. glad i checked, i was completely blindsided by this since they have been bragging about it being on BIG FOX for months. how ironic that the first match ALL season i cannot legally view live is the one that is trying to get the largest audience. nice work :-/

side note, cheers gaffer, still the best site for news on the epl from the american perspective. i knew youd be on this.

The issue I have with this is if these networks get good ratings for showing the match tape delayed then they would think its okay to do this in the future and not to worry about showing matches live. Will these local fox affiliates realize the number of people that will stream the match live instead of waiting for tape delayed viewing?
I loved the idea of showing the match on fox but this is turning into a nightmare.

very disappointed. 11:00 ET doesn’t seem too odd for philadalphia…
show the damn game, now I have to install all kinds of weird shareware to get a stream.
Thanks for making me pay for the soccer package for nothing much.

I’m in Raleigh and they’re showing some home-made church program. I’ve already emailed the station and called but it was busy. Now I don’t know whether to follow the game online or just wait to watch it. I hate them.

I wrote to the WAGA affiliate here Atlanta to complain although I’m sure it will fall on deaf ears. Plus to add insult to injury now that the game is on, it isn’t in the crisp clear HD that the infomercials were. Bush league.

For those without satellite, the San Francisco soccer scene is not what it could be. Matches are available in HD on ESPN2, CSN Bay Area (which rebroadcasts one Fox Soccer match a week), “Big Fox” (KTVU or, for the first time with Arsenal-ManU, sister station KICU) and Univision. [I think ESPN Deportes is SD-only, but it's part of a premium Spanish-language package, so I'm not sure.] Fox Soccer, GOL TV (bilingual) and Fox Deportes are all SD-only (and all appear at the same English-language sports tier) and Fox Soccer Plus is not available.

Fox Bay Area Affiliate KTVU (who didn’t air the Arsenal v Man U game live, only a non HD 2/3 screen on their independent affiliate KICU) will do the same for the Chelsea v Man U on Feb 5th!
Complaints to Eric Casella, program manager(eric.casella@ktvu.com) and his KICU assistant Lori Darnell (Lori.Darnell@ktvu.com)

I just checked Arsenal-Man U on my DVR… recorded from KTVU’s sister station KICU on Comcast channel 706… and I can verify that it _WAS_ broadcast in full 16×9 HD with no partial windowing or editing… something with which I am all too familiar on Fox Soccer Channel SD (all Comcast gives us here).

Though Comcast charges a significant premium for HD service, usually bundling it into the cost of a HD DVR, but once you pay it, any content on KTVU or KICU… both basic cable stations… should be included in HD on the appropriate channels. Note that they will not come in on HD on Comcast channels 2 and 6, which are SD channels even on an HD cable box… just on channels 702 and 706.